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June 2012

June 30, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

The highlight of "Turkeys Away" is a stand-up routine that could have been on The Ed Sullivan Show or on a 1960s comedy record. Les Nessman's narration of live turkeys being pushed out of a helicopter and "hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement" is similar to the absurd situations described by the deadpan Bob Newhart on his "Button-Down Mind" albums — with the big difference that Nessman (Richard Sanders) goes for an overwrought "Hindenburg" delivery of the news.

"Turkeys Away" is still a hugely popular episode (third-highest video result if you Google "turkeys," below "Turkey Dubstep"), despite its staginess and the middling success of WKRP in Cincinnati. It's a rare example of sitcom classic based on viewers' mental images of an event that's never shown on screen.

The "tell, not show" approach is apt for a sitcom about a radio station, but I don't think Les Nessman is what CBS had in mind when it put WKRP on its schedule.

June 29, 2012

"Top 100 Sitcom Episodes" posts will resume this weekend, following my brief vacation and the scramble to finish the work that piled up during my vacation. Hint: The next episode is from a series that hasn't yet appeared on the list.

June 20, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

It's hard to believe that "Casino Night" first aired only six years ago. The Office was such a different show, capable of genuinely emotional moments, and there weren't spoilers all over Twitter, so I actually gasped when Jim tells Pam (who's engaged to another man) that he loves her. I expected The Office to find ways to keep Jim quiet for years, and this was a sign that the show wasn't afraid to move things forward. Yes, this was only six years ago.

"Casino Night" is a great season finale and cliffhanger, but it's also on this list because it has great little moments for almost everyone in the cast. This was back when the show approximated reality by giving us periodic clues about each character's personal life, the way most of us learn about our officemates. "Casino Night" divulges a little more than usual because most of the episode is set at an after-work charity event where people let their guard down slightly. But no one gets drunk and goes completely bonkers (contrast to last season's episodes at Andy's "Garden Party" and Robert California's drunken, naked "Pool Party").

Michael: Oh, and another fun thing. We, at the end of the night, are going to give the check to an actual group of Boy Scouts. Right, Toby? We're gonna... Toby: Actually, I didn't think it was appropriate to invite children since it's... You know, there's gambling and alcohol, and it's in our dangerous warehouse and it's a school night... And, you know, Hooters is catering. You know, is that enough? Should I keep going?

June 18, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

"Arthur After Hours" is about a tragic figure most commonly found in the worlds of politics and show business: the right-hand man. Talk-show producer Artie* is a born leader, able to make snap decisions and put them into action. All the hard workers on the fictional Larry Sanders Show seeks his approval, and all the slackers are terrified of him. He's the most powerful person in his world — except for the jerk who gets all the credit for Artie's efforts.

*None of the regular characters on The Larry Sanders Show have last names except for the on-air talent of Larry Sanders and Hank Kingsley. CORRECTION: And also Larry's assistant, Beverly Barnes.

I saw this dynamic a lot when I worked on Capitol Hill a couple of decades ago. A well-run congressional office would usually have an Artie-like chief of staff who could deploy all the worker bees effectively and head off crises before they happened. But from time to time, he or she would be undercut by the congressman himself. The star of the show might suddenly want nothing to do with the piece of legislation his staff had been working on for weeks, or he might order everyone into work on Saturday morning because he's bored (despite the chief of staff assuring everyone they had the weekend off).

Artie: Night after night, you work, work, work to put on the show, and you do the best you can, and after all, what does it add up to? 'Cause all people remember is the night the chimp grabbed Larry's balls.

June 15, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

Phil Silvers was a motormouth comedian, someone who got laughs just from the way he wouldn't let anyone else talk. This used to be a fairly common type (Groucho Marx, Abbott of Abbott & Costello, Bugs Bunny, lots of people in Preston Sturges movies), but motormouths seem to have gone out of fashion, maybe because no one wants to risk enabling another Robin Williams. There are some fast-paced sitcoms on the air now, but none are as exhausting as The Phil Silvers Show.

If you're under 60, you may know Silvers from the endlessly repeated film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World or from the Gilligan's Island episode "The Producer" (the one with the Hamlet musical). But in the 1950s, The Phil Silvers Show was ... well, it was moderately popular. It was sort of the Taxi of its day, winning lots of Emmys and getting a lot of love in New York, but getting beat by westerns in the national ratings.

June 13, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

The sitcom is generally an optimistic art form, and it includes thousands of fables about how our lives are ultimately enriched by meeting and accepting new people. On a sitcom, talking to a stranger can complicate someone's life, but it's almost never dangerous (or fatal!) the way it is on a crime procedural. Random encounters can lead to some soul-searching, but not the despair that characters almost inevitably experience on a drama like Mad Men.

Sitcoms also lean toward positive depictions of urban life (see Taxi) and "third places" such as cafes and bars. But while Cheers may be TV’s reigning sitcom set in a bar, it never matched "Edith's Night Out" in showing the transformative effect of a night at the neighborhood drinking hole.

June 11, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

"I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday" is not among the most famous Cheers episodes, but it's a fine stand-alone story that also plays off the Sam-and-Diane saga. It's also got some great sight gags (on- and off-screen), some clever twists that examine the value of art, and yet another way to get Sam and Diane in an embrace in the closing moments. Cheers created some great supporting characters, but unlike great farcical sitcoms (like Fawlty Towers and Frasier), its best episodes don't peak with the whole ensemble on stage. Instead, they shed all the other characters until it's as if Sam and Diane are the last people on Earth, each still determined to get the upper hand in their relationship. It's Dr. Strangelove as screwball comedy.

Diane: Sam, would you say that our relationship has matured?Sam: It's getting kind of old, yeah.

June 07, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

Rob and Laura Petrie are jerks.

Not most of the time, but they have their moments of asshattery, just like the rest of us. And in "All About Eavesdropping," they're as petty and passive-aggressive as... well, as we imagine TV stars to be. The Petries are usually so perfect that there's a comic charge in seeing them ruin a dinner party because their feelings are a little bruised. It's like one of the periodic winks to the audience on The Office that Jim and Pam are a little too pleased with themselves.

"All About Eavesdropping" uses the sitcom gimmick of having characters overhear what others say about them behind their backs. In 1963, the trick is done through an intercom system that little Richie and his friend have installed at the Petries' and at the Helpers' next door; today, it would be through an accidentally forwarded email.

June 04, 2012

Welcome to the “100 Best Sitcom Episodes of All Time,” a countdown for 2012. Each episode will get a separate blog post, counting backward toward No. 1. A list of the programs revealed so far is here (and on Pinterest), and an introduction to the project is here.

"I usually look so much better than this."

We've all been there, Mary. Whether it's getting called on at a big staff meeting, running into an ex-lover at the supermarket, or accepting a Teddy Award, everyone has a moment in the spotlight while looking like an idiot.

In "Put on a Happy Face," the usually perfectly-put-together Mary Richards has a cascade of bad luck that begins with a leaking coffee mug, proceeds through a "hair bump" and slippery floor, and (presumably) ends with her struggling to stay on her feet for what should be one of the proudest moments of her career.

The episode has some similarities with Seinfeld's "The Opposite," and Rhoda typically puts it all in perspective.

Rhoda:(to Mary) You're having a lousy streak. I happen to be having a terrific streak. Soon the world will be back to normal. Tomorrow you will meet a crown head of Europe and marry. I will have a fat attack, eat 3000 peanut butter cups, and die.